Wildfire Response: A System on the Brink?

Abstract

Increasing wildfire activity, decreasing workforce capacity, and growing systemic strain may result in an interagency wildfire-response system less capable of protecting landscapes and communities. Further, increased workloads will likely increase hazards to fire personnel and amplify existing problems with recruitment and retention. In the face of elevated risks and degraded capacity, it is imperative that the wildfire-response system operate efficiently. Viable solutions are urgently needed that enable the system to do more with less and that manage not only for landscapes and communities but also the health and wellbeing of the fire personnel on whom the system relies. Achieving this will likely require rethinking how the interagency wildfire-response system can more adaptively and intelligently deploy fire personnel by leveraging enhanced logistics, operations, and proven fire analytics. Study Implications: As society grapples with increasing wildfire damage to landscapes and communities, the capacity of the interagency system in the USA designed to protect landscapes and communities from wildfires is degrading. A stressed system will be less capable of protecting life, property, and resources, and increased workloads will likely increase hazards to fire personnel and amplify existing problems with recruitment and retention. We argue that solutions are attainable through increased attention to performance and through more anticipatory, adaptive, and intelligent deployment of fire personnel across fire incidents and around the country.